Any success with VirtualBox on F15?

[twohot]

Has anyone successfully ran VirtualBox on F15 Gnome DE yet? I'm looking to scrap all the Windows OS installations on my Boxes and have them run off VM instead ... rebooting to do 'windows-only' tasks is killing me. My experience is that VirtualBox is not installing via yum.

[smr54]

I haven't had a chance yet--what about just downloading the rpm from their site (probably for F14) and doing yum localinstall --nogpgcheck (or even rpm -ivh and then getting dependencies that it needs).

It might be that the VBox repo (which never worked for me when I used it, so I gave up--Vbox would always pop up a message that a newer version was available anyway) isn't ready for F15 but the package itself might be.
DISCLAIMER--all untested by me at this piont.

[vallimar]

It installed for me just fine, no problems at all.
I haven't tried to use it yet though.

[twohot]

It installed for me just fine, no problems at all.
I haven't tried to use it yet though.

From the repos or from the vendors site?

[vallimar]

I use the vendor version (also in a repo).
The rpmfusion one is too problematic.

[sej7278]

i wish rpmfusion would just remove their virtualbox packages, it causes some many threads on this forum.

just download the rpm from oracle (and extpac) and be done with it.

[twohot]

I use the vendor version (also in a repo).
The rpmfusion one is too problematic.

Yeah, that did it. Thanks ... next is jackd

[old486whizz]

Install off the vendor site?
What about the kmod package which is designed to speed everything up?

That's the main reason for the repo - if not, you might as well just install the RPM without bothering with updates.

Yes, livna/fusion should get their act together - they break the kmod package because they look like they share the F15 package back into the F14 area (thus saying a later version is required without offering it to you in the first place).

[smr54]

Kmod will work if you have VirtualBox installed and then upgrade the kernel. (Or maybe it's akmod that does that.)

At one point, I think VBox had their own .repo file, don't know if it's still there. As it is, one can get it from the vendor, and then it will check for updates automatically and give you a popup. Seems to me that even the vendor's repo file didn't automatically update, but I might have had enabled=0 for all I remember.

[old486whizz]

Well, I just did a few searches etc, enabled the rawhide repo, and found I could do this:

yum --enablerepo=rpmfusion-free-rawhide --showduplicates search virtualbox-OSE |grep "4[.]0"
output (selective - not all output):
akmod-VirtualBox-OSE-4.0.2-2.fc15.i686 : Akmod package for VirtualBox-OSE kernel
kmod-VirtualBox-OSE-4.0.2-2.fc15.i686 : Metapackage which tracks in
kmod-VirtualBox-OSE-2.6.38-0.rc2.git1.3.fc15.i686-4.0.2-1.fc15.i686 :
VirtualBox-OSE-4.0.2-2.fc14.i686 : A general-purpose full virtualizer for PC
VirtualBox-OSE-4.0.2-2.fc15.i686 : A general-purpose full virtualizer for PC

So, you are able to install virtualbox by doing a:
yum --enablerepo=rpmfusion-free-rawhide install akmod-VirtualBox-OSE-4.0.2-2.fc15.i686 VirtualBox-OSE-4.0.2-2.fc15.i686

modprobe now shows:
modprobe -l |grep -i vbox
extra/VirtualBox-OSE/vboxguest.ko
extra/VirtualBox-OSE/vboxnetflt.ko
extra/VirtualBox-OSE/vboxsf.ko
extra/VirtualBox-OSE/vboxnetadp.ko
extra/VirtualBox-OSE/vboxvideo.ko
extra/VirtualBox-OSE/vboxdrv.ko

The only one I have problems "modprobe"-ing (insmod under a different name) is vboxsf.
I can't remember if there's meant to be an init service run but there's been no new files in /etc .

Running virtualbox it looks like you can do anything (sorry, haven't the time to experiment right now).

.... So what was that about "the easiest way"?
Other than USB support (which I can live without right now) does the vendor-proprietary install come with some sort of kernel module?

*edit*
I am installing this on F14 though - sorry to mislead anyone.
I would assume that F15 would be much the same - and am posting here purely because this seemed the latest/greatest virtualbox thread.

[twohot]

I'm just trying VBox for the first time. I haven't done this before but I think I'm tired of rebooting to access Windows for those rare 'windows moments'. So far, VBox wants a partition assigned to it. Not today (No space for this kind of experiment) ... I'll do this after backing up my Windows Partition. :)

[jvillain]

I am curious. What is it that you guys are getting from VB that you aren't getting from KVM and libvirt?

[smr54]

One click bridged networking, easier interface, fewer things to install for me. No need to read anything, just click and drool.

Vs KVM, where I (just speaking personally) don't find the interface at all intuitive, seems to be running more things, I have to set up bridged networking manually first, and all for no noticeable gain in performance.

Everyone's needs are different, and sure, it's not hard to set up any of that in KVM, but for me, those are the reasons.

[vallimar]

Other than USB support (which I can live without right now) does the vendor-proprietary install come with some sort of kernel module?
The kernel module is required, so yes, it comes with the source. They just don't include
pre-built kmod's. The init script can easily generate the kmod, and if you have dkms,
it will automatically make use of it, which is more effective than pre-built kmod's anyhow
if you upgrade kernels and don't want to wait on others to generate them for you.

And just to add, the vender version is obviously up-to-date. 4.0.4 has been out
for awhile, and all you see in the repo is 4.0.2?

[sej7278]

KVM seems like its still an early beta, the GUI's suck, the only upside is its built-in.

as far as packages of virtualbox goes, just install the vendor (oracle) rpm and dkms and away you go, no need for akmods from rpmfusion. if you want usb then you also need to install the extpack.

[sillav]

I am curious. What is it that you guys are getting from VB that you aren't getting from KVM and libvirt?

Speed, built in windows drivers. KVM-Quemu on a 64 bit dual core with vxt extension just crawls and complains about no video/audio drivers. I'm not even talking about the experimental 3d support btw... just decent enough that I can move my mouse without noticing the lag. Or watch netflix.

I'd much rather use KVM / Quemu, but it just doesn't compare in my limited experiences with it on F15.

[glennzo]

Here's the deal with installing VirtualBox as seen from my chair. I downloaded the rpm file from the VirtualBox site, VirtualBox-4.0-4.0.6_71344_fedora14-1.x86_64.rpm. Next I installed a few things that I was fairly sure I'd need, based on my past experiences.
yum install kernel-devel kernel-headers dkms gcc qt qt-x11
Change to the download folder and attempt to install VBox.
[glenn@f15beta> cd Downloads
[glenn@f15beta Downloads>$ su -c 'rpm -ivh VirtualBox-4.0-4.0.6_71344_fedora14-1.x86_64.rpm'
Password:
warning: VirtualBox-4.0-4.0.6_71344_fedora14-1.x86_64.rpm: Header V4 DSA/SHA1 Signature, key ID 98ab5139: NOKEY
Preparing... ########################################### [100%]
1:VirtualBox-4.0 ########################################### [100%]

Creating group 'vboxusers'. VM users must be member of that group!

No precompiled module for this kernel found -- trying to build one. Messages
emitted during module compilation will be logged to /var/log/vbox-install.log.

Stopping VirtualBox kernel modules [ OK ]
Uninstalling old VirtualBox DKMS kernel modules [ OK ]
Trying to register the VirtualBox kernel modules using DKMS[ OK ]
Starting VirtualBox kernel modules [ OK ]

The result is shown in the attached screen shot.

[jvillain]

Speed, built in windows drivers. KVM-Quemu on a 64 bit dual core with vxt extension just crawls and complains about no video/audio drivers.

Have you tried taking spice for a spin?

http://www.linux-kvm.com/content/virt-manager-improves-spice-support

[VastOne]

Install off the vendor site?
What about the kmod package which is designed to speed everything up?

That's the main reason for the repo - if not, you might as well just install the RPM without bothering with updates.

Yes, livna/fusion should get their act together - they break the kmod package because they look like they share the F15 package back into the F14 area (thus saying a later version is required without offering it to you in the first place).

I install the latest from Oracle as well.. Today there was a kernel upgrade and on the reboot the vbox kernel failed as expected...

The first time running Vbox when this happens a message comes up to tell you to drop to sudo or su and run

/etc/init.d/vboxdrv setup

This works perfectly...

If only nVidia could be this easy... :dis:

[smr54]

Same for me on F15. Installed from Vendor's site, after kernel upgrade, fails, run vboxdrv setup and all is good. Working fine for me.

As for NVidia, with akmod, it often is that easy. A pleasant surprise for me this time around is that noveau is finally working for me with the video card on my Fedora workstation.

[input]

I am running Fedora 14 and I would like to install SME server. But which rpm file I need for installing Virtual box.
Thanks

[VastOne]

I am running Fedora 14 and I would like to install SME server. But which rpm file I need for installing Virtual box.
Thanks

Go to the site and the download section and choose the rpm that matches your system... For me it was the x86_64

---------- Post added at 10:37 AM ---------- Previous post was at 10:33 AM ----------

Same for me on F15. Installed from Vendor's site, after kernel upgrade, fails, run vboxdrv setup and all is good. Working fine for me.

As for NVidia, with akmod, it often is that easy. A pleasant surprise for me this time around is that noveau is finally working for me with the video card on my Fedora workstation.

I thought the same about akmod as well until yesterday when a kernel update rendered my system to fallback and nothing I did helped... It was later revealed that a file not being executable may have been the issue, but I had rebuilt by that time and nouveau is also working perfectly so I am sticking with it...

This is the second F15 machine I had to rebuild due to nVidia issues and fallback as the only choice.. Now both are happily running nouveau :D

[sillav]

Have you tried taking spice for a spin?

http://www.linux-kvm.com/content/virt-manager-improves-spice-support

I have not. When it says "Of course, you'll also have to install the SPICE drivers on your guests as well. " what does that mean?

[sillav]

Tried it out, used the spice graphics drivers on the windows guest, and performance was vastly improved. Still not up to par with virtualbox IMHO, but definitely usable. Maybe with a bit more time and tweaking it would be good, but I don't want to spend hours on trying to get it up and running to my satisfaction when I know I can get vb up and good in about 10 minutes.

Thanks for the tip though. I'll definitely check it out again on F16.

[Haphaeu]

@glennzo (post 17) - thanks, works like a charm.

attached screenshot - installing xp and 7

juts could not install 7 in 64bits, but have not digged to find out why.

[clueless]

Thank you,
I like the screen shots, but mine do not show as running. When I click on start I get the error message and I haven't managed to configure the drive. I posted the full error elsewhere. I have the kernel updater installed and DKMS. Bottom line was the wizard didn't start so I cant run the xp disc.

[glennzo]

Thank you,
I like the screen shots, but mine do not show as running. When I click on start I get the error message and I haven't managed to configure the drive. I posted the full error elsewhere. I have the kernel updater installed and DKMS. Bottom line was the wizard didn't start so I cant run the xp disc.
Look at the vbox-install.log

su -
<password>
less /var/log/vbox-install.log

[clueless]

I did as you said and this is what I saw.

I will see if this changed anything when I run it. I have no Idea what it did, but it seems to have done the trick, thank you.

Sean

Uninstalling modules from DKMS
removing old DKMS module vboxhost version 4.0.4

------------------------------
Deleting module version: 4.0.4
completely from the DKMS tree.
------------------------------
Done.
Attempting to install using DKMS

Creating symlink /var/lib/dkms/vboxhost/4.0.6/source ->
/usr/src/vboxhost-4.0.6

DKMS: add Completed.
You can use the --kernelsourcedir option to tell DKMS where it's located.
Failed to install using DKMS, attempting to install without
Makefile:169: *** Error: unable to find the sources of your current Linux kernel. Specify KERN_DIR=<directory> and run Make again. Stop.

[Smoking Tux]

Makefile:169: *** Error: unable to find the sources of your current Linux kernel. Specify KERN_DIR=<directory> and run Make again. Stop.
Looks like the kernel sources are missing..
# yum install kernel-devel kernel-headers

[clueless]

It is working, should I still run the command?

[Smoking Tux]

If all is ok now, there is no need for. What have you done to get it working?